Asylum
by Koohii Cafe
Summary: He'd seen the girl a couple times in the courtyard where they exercised, and he'd known she wasn't like the rest of the whackos in this place; she moved too smoothly, and though she wore a kinda haunted look, her eyes were alert, always watching.


**Title:** Asylum

**Author:** Koohii Cafe

**Rating:** K+

**Crossover:** BtVS/Evil Dead

**Disclaimer:** Since I am a poor chickadee with no wealth to speak of, I think it's safe to say that neither BtVS nor Evil Dead are mine. ^^;

**Written for:** TtH August Fic A Day Challenge

**Summary:** He'd seen the girl a couple'a times in the courtyard where they did their exercises, and he'd known instantly she wasn't like the rest of the whackos in this place; she moved too smoothly, and though she had a kinda haunted look on her face, her eyes were always alert, always watching, especially at night.

**Author's notes:** Set before season 1 for BtVS and AU after the end of AoD for Evil Dead, with a hint of the game 'Evil Dead: Regeneration' thrown in.

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><p><em><strong>Asylum<strong>_

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><p>He'd seen the girl a couple'a times in the courtyard where they did their exercises, and he'd known instantly she wasn't like the rest of the whackos in this place; she moved too smoothly, and though she had a kinda haunted look on her face, her eyes were always alert, always watching, especially at night. He knew what that was like, cause he was the same way; night was bad, and dangerous. Night was when the dead came back to life, and as the old professor one who started this whole shebang had said, had 'license' to possess the living. 'License' his ass, since Ash'd been possessed once himself, and he was pretty damn sure <em>he<em> hadn't given any kinda license to 'em, but that wasn't the point. The _point_ was that he knew the girl didn't belong in this joint any more than he did. He wasn't crazy, and neither was she. Now if only he could actually _talk_ to her.

He'd seen enough to know the girl was in pretty good standing with the docs; she was always quiet and playin' nice, doing what they said without making trouble. It meant that she had pretty much free roam of the place. Ash, on the other hand- he'd been on lockdown since almost day one. He hadn't come quietly _into_ this place, he sure didn't play quietly while stuck there, cause why should he? He knew what he'd seen, what'd happened, and he wasn't crazy. The Deadites were real, and they'd taken his sister, his friends, his girlfriend, his hand, and his life. They'd yanked him through time, screwed over everything he cared about, and then dumped him in a future where he was wanted for the murder of everyone they'd taken from him. Course, they were also the reason he was locked up in a nuthouse instead of a maximum security prison- the docs'd taken one look at his story about soul eating demons and time travel and declared him crazy, and that was how he'd ended up out here, at a hospital that specialized in the delusional crazies apparently. And if his hunch was right- the non-crazies who'd actually _faced_ demons before. He just couldn't _get_ to her to ask, cause'a being on lockdown. The damn orderlies watched him like a hawk, not lettin' him outta their sights, or lettin' him run free or mingle with the other patients.

Ash tried bein' subtle, first- or his version of subtle, at least. He tried staring at her, to get her attention, but that just seemed to creep the kid out, and after a couple'a days, the orderlies threatened to put him in solitude again if he didn't' cut it out. He tried settin' up near her during exercises, but the first time he tried, she booked it halfway across the courtyard. Trying to sit near her at a meal got the same treatment, and another threat from the orderlies, and Ash'd snarled at them before grabbing his plate and shoving off to another table. He wasn't stupid; he'd seen 'em talking to her before, probably warning her away from the crazy killer. He'd be damned if they were gonna stop him though. She wouldn't actually talk to him, fine. He'd figure out some other way.

Ash watched her as best he could, waiting for an opening, trying to figure out a way to get her alone, but she avoided him like the plague, and part of him couldn't blame her. After all, she was just a kid, not even seventeen, and he knew he looked like something of a freak, with his scars and missing a hand. With the things the damn orderlies musta been tellin' her about the crazy old chainsaw murderer, he couldn't blame her at all, but it made it a pain in the ass to try to talk to her. The only time he ever saw her for long periods of time was when she went to the computer room, since she had computer privileges for good behavior. And that- that was when he figured it out.

The next week, for the first time since he'd been shoved into this dump and left to rot, Ash behaved. He acted like the picture perfect patient, jumping when the docs said jump, and not even arguing when they gave him his medicine- not that he took it of course, he just let them _think_ he did, instead'a makin' a big fuss like he normally did. The docs were wary, and the orderlies were downright suspicious, but when he'd been good for the entire week, they had to take him off lockdown- and suddenly he had access, although limited, to the computer room.

The next day, he waited for her to go in first. If she did like normal, she'd be in there for an hour or so, apparently doing some computer mail thing with her friends out in the real world, or something like that. Not wanting to scare her off immediately, Ash waited till she'd been in there for about fifteen minutes- then followed. And the damn orderlies couldn't do a thing about it, which made him smirk to himself. What he didn't expect to find, though, when he went in, was the girl hunched over in front of a computer, her shoulders shaking silently and her face buried in her hands. He froze in the doorway and stared for a second- she was crying. And as much as it made him want to turn 'n run, cause dealing with crying chicks wasn't something he knew how to do, he couldn't. Because when she heard the door open, she turned and looked up with bloodshot eyes, lookin' for all the world like she'd just been broken inside. Crap.

"H- hey, you alright?"

"Yes," she answered quickly, spinning her chair away and swipin' at her eyes with one arm. Then, she didn't move, leaving her back to him, and he almost didn't hear the tiny little, "_no_," that followed, and hell, she even _sounded_ broken. Slowly, Ash let the door shut behind him, making her turn around to look at him again, and he could see her tryin' to rebuild herself. "What do you want?"

Ash raised his hands up in the air like he was surrendering or something, and shrugged as he took another step forward into the room. "I'm just here to use the computer, doll. Don't want nothin'."

"I'm 'crazy,'" she answered, her voice loaded with sarcasm as she made little air quotes at the word 'crazy,' "not stupid." And with every word, she was buildin' up that wall around herself, less and less of that heartbroken girl he'd seen when he first came in showin'.

"I'm just tellin' the truth. Old Ash's been a good boy, so I get to try out these fancy pants computers of theirs." The girl snorted. Ash shrugged and, when she didn't make any move to run, made his way over to a computer two machines down from hers.

"'Fancy pants?' You're kidding, right? These things are so old they make the computers on the _Flintstones_ look new." And then all traces were gone, and he was lookin' at the same girl who'd been dodging him since the first day he started trying to get her attention. Which was a relief, cause he didn't know what he woulda done if she'd kept crying.

"Yeah, and? I've kinda been out of touch for awhile." He grimaced as he said it, because it sounded like he'd been stuck in here for way too long, but it was true. For as long as he'd been stuck in this place, he'd been in medieval times before that, and over fifteen years in the past from today before that. The girl gave him a sharp look, watching him closely with those still bloodshot eyes of hers, like she was tryin' to figure him out. Ash ignored her for a moment, sitting down and poking at the computer in front of him with his hand. Let her stew, he figured, cause there was some question waitin' to be asked in those eyes. She'd pop eventually.

"Wanna tell me why you've been watching me?" Sooner, rather than later apparently. "If the Council sent you, you can forget it. I'm done." There was a harsh edge to her voice, and frankly, with the look he'd seen in her eyes sometimes, it didn't surprise him.

"I don't know nothing about a council, sister." Ash paused, looking away from the computer and straight at her. It was just a reason to get close to her anyway. "What I do know is that you're not like the rest of these crazies in here. Whatever it is they put you in here for, you're like me. It's real, and you know what's out there."

"I'm not like you," the girl retorted quickly, suspicion flashing through her eyes. "I burned down a gym- you _killed_ people. There's a difference."

"That what the orderlies told ya?"

"They told me you killed seven people, including your sister and your girlfriend."

"Yeah, well, guess what. Did they also tell ya that it wasn't me, it was a buncha Kandarian demons?" The words seemed to give her pause, her gaze sharpening.

"_Demons_?" The girl hesitated, as if considering her next words. When she finally spoke again, her voice was bitter. "There's no such thing as demons."

"Sure, that's what the docs're spoon feedin' ya, but I've seen the way you look at night. You've seen 'em before, haven't ya? Fought 'em? Lost someone to 'em?" And the moment he said it, he could see her flinch, a pain in her eyes that she hid almost as soon as it appeared. He hadn't been wrong- not that he ever was. She was like him. "_You_ know and _I_ know that they're real, even if the rest'a the world thinks we're crazy."

"And?" There was a hint of that brokenness from earlier in her face. "Who cares if they're real? If going along with the rest of the world means I can get out of here, that my family won't fall apart, then fine. I'll do it- _gladly_."

Oh. _That_ was what she'd been cryin' about, something going on at home- cause she was here? Ash winced, because he knew how much that could hurt. He remembered holdin' Linda back when they first started dating, cause her parents were getting a divorce; she'd cried in his arms, and she'd been older than this kid, an adult when it happened, and hadn't blamed herself like this girl was. "Look, kid, I-"

"Don't." The girl's voice stopped him cold, her eyes dark with emotion she was just barely keeping off her face, out of her voice, if her trembling hands were any indication. "The only way out of this place is to lie. You want out, you'll do the same thing."

"Out to where, huh? They think I killed seven people, remember? I suddenly start lyin' about the demons, all they're gonna do is lock me up in a _real_ prison."

"I'm sorry, I can't help you." Her voice was blank, her face closed off, and she pushed away and up from the computer. "I hope you figure it out."

And as she walked away and out of the computer room, Ash realized it was kinda like seeing himself. Was that how he'd looked to Sheila, the Wiseman, and everyone else back in Kandar, when he brought back the book and demanded to be sent home? His lips pressed together in a hard line. She was hurtin', and he knew what that was like. He'd been hurting too, back in Kandar. And he realized, with a jolt, that he didn't like seeing the kid hurt, even though he barely even knew her name. Maybe, if he stuck to it and kept buggin' her, he could pull her outta that funk, and they could both get outta this place. Maybe…


End file.
